Justice Mary O’Brien of Illinois Supreme Court

10/17/2024

Justice Mary O’Brien

c/o Illinois Supreme Court

Supreme Court Building

200 E. Capitol Avenue

Springfield, IL  62701

Dear Justice O’Brien,

My name is Matt Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I have a strong interest in learning history, social justice, and criminal justice reform. In these subjects, I like to learn the need for civil rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, have criminal justice reform to help protect people’s rights while reduce crime, expand on social justice to improve communities, and many others. Justice O’Brien, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work when you served as Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 75th district, as former Judge of the Illinois Appellate Court for the 3rd district, and as current Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court to be very inspiring to me. 

When you served as Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 75th district from 1997-2003, I truly appreciated on how you were a strong supporter of civil rights by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, working to expand on laws to combat against hate crimes to help protect minorities including people who are different, and supporting funds for women including minorities businesses to help them compete in the economy. On the economy, I like on how you support expansion on jobs training programs to help train youth including workers to develop or improve on their job skills to help them prepare for the work force and advocate for the need to raise the minimum wage to help assist minimum wage workers afford to live. Supporting funds for renewable energy resources to help reduce addiction on oil with gas, encouraging businesses including industries to use energy efficient products to help reduce high energy cost while reduce pollution, and working with state legislatures to expand funds to help clean parks including water resources to make them safe for people to use is common sense to help protect the environment.  On education, I really like your commitment to provide funds to help improve special education to help students with disabilities get the accommodations they need to learn and support literacy programs to help students including adults develop or improve on their literacy skills.  In your role as Judge of the Illinois Appellate Court for the 3rd district from 2003-2022, , I truly appreciated on how you were a strong supporter of civil rights by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, pushing for strict sentencing for people who commit hate crimes to help protect minorities including people who are different, and expressing the need for civil rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination.  Supported drug treatment programs to help drug users get the care they need to reduce drug abuse, expanded on resources to help victims of crime including victims of domestic violence get help on dealing with their trauma, and pushing along with expressing the need for funds for DNA testing including forensic science to help solve evidence or cases efficiently while reduce sending an innocent person to jail is common sense for criminal justice reform. Also on criminal justice reform, I like on how you express the need for mental health court to help people with mental illness to get treatment and advocate for the importance of community services to help non-violent offenders including non violent juveniles to rehabilitate so they won’t re-offend.   In your current role as Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, I like on how you are a continuous strong supporter of civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights and criminal justice reform. On civil liberties, I like on how you support protecting civil liberties from being violated like the 4th amendment to help protect people from unreasonable searches, 6th amendment to for the person accused of a crime know what charges or evidence is against them, and many others.  Another thing that I like about your work as Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court is is how you are an advocate for the need to protect voter’s rights from being oppressed, support the need for ethics reform like a ban on gifts to judicial staff members including judges from lobbing groups or PACs to reduce corruption, and expand on educational awareness about how the court system works to help the public understand.

Justice O’Brien, I have autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different advance subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts in different settings, and get teased. Your commitment to be a strong supporter of civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability.  Your role as former Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 75th district, as former Judge of the Illinois Appellate Court for the 3rd district, and as current Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court helps give me motivation to continue to learn history, social justice, and criminal justice reform.  My future goal is to someday work in these areas to help emphasize the need for civil rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, expand on social justice to improve communities, have criminal justice reform to help protect people’s rights while reduce crime, and many others.

I strongly believe that you are making a great difference for society. I’m very proud on how you worked hard to support civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights, protect the environment, expand on criminal justice reform, and many others. You truly inspire me to work hard on my disability, learn more about your work, and continue to learn different subjects. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a great difference, and inspiring me. Please continue to advocate for common sense ideas. 

Sincerely,

Matt Winick